By ED BARK@unclebarkycom on TwitterMonday night is when ABC’s The Bachelorette, NBC’s American Ninja Warrior and Fox’s So You Think You Can Dance all collide in one big glop from 7 to 9 p.m.

The Nielsen scorecards looked like this.

Ninja won the full two hours in total D-FW viewers with 167,376 while Dance was close on its heels (160,402 viewers) and Bachelorette couldn’t quite come up roses (146,454 viewers). CBS’ Mike & Molly rerun, again drawing on the feature film stardom of Melissa McCarthy, beat all three of ‘em from 7:30 to 8 p.m. with 160,402 viewers. Ninja drew 146,454 viewers during those 30 minutes before building up ratings strength in its second hour.

Ninja also took the gold among advertiser-prized 18-to-49-year-olds, pulling in 88,306 to easily beat all competing programming. Dance and Bachelorette both averaged 59,922 viewers in this key demographic while Mike & Molly ranked as CBS’ highest scorer with 50,461.

At 9 p.m., Fox4’s local newscast had the most total viewers (167,376) and NBC’s The Island with Bear Grylls scored the highest with 18-to-49-year-olds (72,537).

Sunday’s overall pacesetter in prime-time, ABC’s 7 p.m. hour of the new Celebrity Family Feud, had 230,142 total viewers. CBS’ competing 7 p.m. episode of Big Brother led all programming among 18-to-49-year-olds with 72,537.

Over on CNN, the 8 p.m. premiere of Glen Campbell: I’ll Be Me averaged 41,844 total viewers for its one hour, 45 minute running time. That was good enough to beat cable news rivals Fox News Channel and MSNBC, but not enough to seriously compete with most of the prime-time attractions on the Big Four broadcast networks.

Fox led Friday’s prime-time parade with the U.S.-China World Cup women’s soccer match. It averaged 174,350 total viewers and an impressive 91,460 (better than 50 percent) in the 18-to-49 age range.

Here are the four-way local news derby results for Friday and Monday.

Friday -- Gannett8 had the most total viewers at 10 p.m., but Fox4 dominated among 25-to-54-year-olds (main advertiser target audience for news programming).

Fox4 again swept the 6 a.m. competitions and NBC5 had a doubleheader win at 6 p.m. The Peacock also ran first in total viewers at 5 p.m. and tied Fox4 for the top spot with 25-to-54-year-olds.

It stretched all the way until 10:20 p.m. Thursday, averaging 69,740 D-FW viewers. But as with the NBA Finals, more than half of that audience was drawn from among advertiser-prized 18-to-49-year-olds. In that key demographic, it added up to 40,999 viewers.

The peak audience in total viewers -- 104,610 -- came during the 8:45 to 9 p.m. segment. Among 18-to-49-year-olds, a high of 66,230 viewers tuned in during the 6:45 to 7 p.m. increment.

Over in the broadcast network universe, CBS’ two-hour Season 3 premiere of Under the Dome drew 125,542 total viewers, but just 34,692 in the 18-to-49 age range.

Dome beat all competing Big 4 broadcast network programming in the 8 to 9 p.m. hour in total viewers. It fell to third from 9 to 10 p.m. behind Fox4’s local newscast and ABC’s sixth season launch of Rookie Blue. In the 18-to-49 measurement, Dome ran behind Fox’s Wayward Pines in its first hour and Fox4’s news in the 9 to 10 p.m. segment.

CBS did better in both ratings measurements with a 7 p.m. episode of Big Brother, which won its time slot in both total viewers (160,402) and 18-to-49-year-olds (94,614). Fox’s 7 p.m. premiere of the game show Boom! ran third in that hour in total viewers (132,506) and second with 18-to-49-year-olds (56,768).

ABC’s new The Astronaut Wives Club had a rough second outing, running fourth at 7 p.m. in both total viewers and 18-to-49-year-olds. It wasn’t that far out of first place in total viewers but got drubbed in the 18-to-49 demographic.

Here are Thursday’s four-way local news derby results.

Fox4 continued a strong early summer run at 10 p.m. with wins in both total viewers and 25-to-54-year-olds (main advertiser target audience for news programming). The station as usual swept the 6 a.m. competitions.

Gannett8 ran the table at 6 p.m. NBC5 drew the most total viewers at 5 p.m. while finishing in a three-way first place tie with Fox4 and Gannett8 among 25-to-54-year-olds.

They improved Wednesday night with Season 17’s introduction of the latest shut-ins. But Fox’s Masterchef still won the 7 p.m. hour while NBC’s one-hour highlight reel of America’s Got Talent auditions drooped to third.

Masterchef drew 202,246 D-FW viewers, with 94,614 in the key 18-to-49-year-old demographic. BB had 146,454 total viewers and 72,537 in the 18-to-49 age range.

A new 8 p.m. episode of CBS’ The Briefcase then fell to fourth place finishes in both ratings measurements. ABC’s Modern Family rerun had the most total viewers from 8 to 8:30 p.m. before NBC’s American Ninja Warrior won from 8:30 to 9 p.m. It was the same story with 18-to-49-year-olds.

Fox4’s 9 p.m. local newscast remained potent with twin wins at 9 p.m. It’s won or tied for first place on three straight weeknights in competition with network programming.

On Fox Sports Southwest, the Texas Rangers’ home loss to Oakland averaged 97,636 total viewers. That’s not great. But it was more than double the crowd for ESPN’s competing College World Series final between victorious Virginia and defending champ Vanderbilt. Only 41,844 viewers tuned in.

Here are Wednesday’s four-way local news derby results.

Gannett8 won comfortably at 10 p.m. in both total viewers and 25-to-54-year-olds (main advertiser target audience for news programming).

Fox4 again swept the 6 a.m. competitions while adding 5 and 6 p.m. wins in the 25-to-54-year-old demographic.

NBC5 had the most total viewers and 5 p.m. and CBS11 broke through with a 6 p.m. victory in that measurement.

By ED BARK@unclebarkycom on TwitterNBC’s America’s Got Talent won most of the prime-time ratings gold Tuesday, but was no ratings steamroller.

From 7 to 9 p.m. AGT averaged 223,168 D-FW viewers while also setting the night’s high among advertiser-prized 18-to-49-year-olds with 72,537.

Fox4’s 9 p.m. local newscast remained strong with a sweep of that hour. It drew 174,350 total viewers and 63,076 in the 18-to-49 demographic.

The Texas Rangers’ home loss to Oakland had 125,532 total viewers on Fox Sports Southwest. Fox had the least-watched prime-time program overall with an 8 p.m. Women’s World Cup soccer special. It had just 69,740 total viewers before Fox4’s local newscast trampolined to ratings dominance at 9 p.m.

Here are Tuesday’s four-way local news derby results.

Fox4 had twin wins at 10 p.m. for the second straight weeknight, topping the field in total viewers and 25-to-54-year-olds (main advertiser target audience for news programming).

Fox4 as usual swept the 6 a.m. competitions and also had the most total viewers at 6 p.m. Gannett8 and Fox4 tied for the 6 p.m. lead among 25-to-54-year-olds. The two stations also shared the total viewers gold at 5 p.m., but Gannett was alone on top with 25-to-54-year-olds.

NEWS NOTE: Former CBS11 interim traffic reporter Tammy Dombeck will be joining host Jocelyn White this fall on Designing Texas, which airs weekends on Gannett8. She tweeted the news Tuesday. There’s no set time slot yet.

Dombeck was dropped by CBS11 in late April and replaced by Chelsey Davis, who started on June 8th. White initially became famous in D-FW as the main 6 and 10 p.m. weekday news weathercaster in the 1980s for KDFW-TV (Channel 4), then a CBS affiliate station and now owned by Fox. She was the market’s first full-time woman temperature taker.

As of this writing, Fox4, NBC5, Gannett8 and CBS11 have a total of six women doing the weather. But the lead weathercasters are all men.

By ED BARK@unclebarkycom on TwitterFox4’s 9 p.m. local newscast ranked highest in total viewers during Monday’s prime-time face-offs while NBC’s American Ninja Warrior lured the most advertiser-prized 18-to-49-year-olds in the D-FW Nielsens.

Add ABC’s The Bachelorette, which won from 7 to 9 p.m. in total viewers with 167,376 before Fox4’s news took the 9 p.m. hour with 174,350.

Ninja Warrior ruled from 7 to 9 p.m. among 18-to-49-year-olds, drawing 78,875. Fox4’s news and NBC’s The Island with Bear Grylls tied in that measurement at 9 p.m. with 50,461 apiece.

Local ratings for Fox Sports 1’s U.S. World Cup women’s soccer match between the U.S. and Colombia were not immediately available. Although carried on a still relatively obscure network, it’s possible that soccer may have won in prime-time among total viewers.

Fox’s two-hour So You Think You Can Dance ranked as prime-time’s lowest 7 to 9 p.m. scorer in total viewers among the Big Four broadcast networks. It limped in with just 104,461 but beat CBS’ Scorpion repeat during the 8 p.m. hour in the 18-to-49 demographic.

Here are Monday’s four-way local news derby results.

Fox4 won at 10 p.m. in total viewers and 25-to-54-year-olds (main advertiser target audience for news programming).

The other main battlegrounds were also sweeps. Fox4 ran the table at 6 a.m., NBC5 had twin wins at 5 p.m. and Gannett8 took both golds at 6 p.m.

By ED BARK@unclebarkycom on TwitterPlayed on a butt-ugly course and further marred by some bogey-quality coverage, the U.S. Open nonetheless had Dallas native Jordan Spieth and an astonishing finish going for it.

The D-FW ratings built accordingly during Fox coverage that stretched from 1 to 9:19 p.m., when Dustin Johnson missed a short putt to give the 21-year-old Spieth his second straight Major win. It was Fox’s inaugural U.S. Open tournament, and the network hit the rough on a number of occasions. But all concerned can learn from that and use a better set of clubs (a k a commentators) the next time around.

The closing minutes of Sunday’s final round pulled in a peak crowd of 418,440 viewers, with 129,306 in the advertiser-prized 18-to-49-year-old demographic. Overall, Sunday’s complete coverage averaged 195,272 total viewers and 53,615 in the 18-to-49 age range. That’s a pedestrian percentage of “desirable” viewers, especially compared to the NBA Finals. Each of those six games drew more than half their audience from the 18-to-49 motherlode.

Sunday’s coverage made just one ratings slip opposite competing programming. From 7 to 8 p.m., the premiere of ABC’s Celebrity Family Feud, hosted by Steve Harvey, tied that portion of the U.S. Open with 258,038 total viewers. Feud otherwise won comfortably among 18-to-49-year-olds by a score of 100,922 viewers to 72,537.

Saturday’s U.S. Open coverage started at 1 p.m. on Fox and ended just before 9:45 p.m. It outdrew every competing program throughout the day and night, averaging 139,480 total viewers and 40,999 in the 18-to-49 realm.

Fox offered only prime-time coverage on Friday, drawing 125,532 total viewers, with 47,307 in the 18-to-49 demographic. Ratings were diminished in D-FW largely because Spieth had already finished his round when Fox took over from sister network Fox Sports 1. ABC’s regular 9 p.m. Friday edition of 20/20 beat golf in both ratings measurements during that hour. From 9 to 9:45 p.m., the closing portion of the Texas Rangers-White Sox game on Fox Sports Southwest also edged the U.S. Open in total viewers and 18-to-49-year-olds.

Here are Friday’s local news derby numbers.

Gannett8 swept the 10 p.m. competitions with wins in both total viewers and 25-to-54-year-olds (main advertiser target audience for news programming).

Fox4 ran the table at 6 a.m. and added a 6 p.m. first with 25-to-54-year-olds.

NBC5 had the most total viewers at both 5 and 6 p.m. while Gannett8 was tops with 25-to-54-year-olds at 5 p.m.

By ED BARK@unclebarkycom on TwitterSusan Tully, the dean of D-FW television news directors, is moving up the NBC chain as president and general manager of WVIT-TV in Connecticut.

The NBC-Owned Television Stations Division made the announcement Friday, saying that Tully begins her new role immediately. For the past 14 years, she has been vice president of news for Fort Worth-based NBC5, which is owned by NBC Universal. WVIT-TV serves the entire state of Connecticut while NBC5 competes in the country’s fifth-largest television market.

“Susan has led the KXAS newsroom through countless news cycles . . . with professionalism, tenacity and, above all, a strong commitment to the viewer,” NBC Universal Owned Television Stations president Valari Staab said in a statement. “I know she’ll be a great general manager and I am excited to see how she uses her strong talents and abilities to advance NBC Connecticut even further.”

WVIT, which also is owned by NBC Universal, “is a strong station with a solid team that is innovative, passionate and gets results,” Tully said.

One of Tully’s principal passions at NBC5 was weather coverage, which invariably drives ratings upward during bad patches.

“To me, the fun events are ice storms . . . I love ice storms. I hate them personally,” she said at an October 2012 gathering of five women news directors running the shows at all five of the market’s major TV news stations. With Tully’s departure, only two remain in those positions -- Fox4’s Robin Whitmeyer and Gannett8’s Carolyn Mungo.

Tully, who will be relocating to the Great erHartford area, is a graduate of Sam Houston State University, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in Radio, Television and Film. Before joining NBC5, she worked at television stations in Philadelphia and San Diego. Her successor at NBC5 hasn’t been named yet.

By ED BARK@unclebarkycom on Twitter A strong opening round by Dallas native Jordan Spieth and the continued pathetic play of Tiger Woods weren’t enough to make much of a ratings score for Fox’s inaugural telecast of the U.S. Open golf tournament. Still, there some birdies mixed in during the network’s wall-to-wall prime-time coverage.

Airing from 7 to 10 p.m. Thursday, the Open averaged 97,636 D-FW viewers and 28,384 in the advertiser-coveted 18-to-49-year-old demographic.

Golf’s first hour ran a distant fourth among the Big Four broadcast networks in total viewers, behind CBS’ competing rerun of The Big Bang Theory (209,220 viewers), NBC’s Dateline (153,428), CBS’ The Odd Couple repeat (146,454) and ABC’s launch of the drama series Astronaut Wives Club (139,480).

The 8 to 9 p.m. portion of the U.S. Open perked up to beat NBC’s Aquarius and ABC’s first hour of Mistresses while losing to CBS’ reprises of Mom and Mike & Molly.

Hour 3 of golf saved face by outdrawing all of the competing attractions on ABC, CBS and NBC. A new episode of the Peacock’s Hannibal again ranked as the hour’s loss leader, with just 27,896 total viewers.

In the key 18-to-49-year-old measurement, the U.S. Open ran fourth in the first hour, tied for an overall second from 8 to 9 p.m. and easily won the 9 p.m. hour.

Over on ESPN, TCU stayed alive in the college baseball World Series by beating LSU in prime-time. The game averaged 62,765 total viewers and 15,769 in the 18-to-49 demographic.

Here are Thursday’s local news derby results.

Gannett8 won at 10 p.m. in both total viewers and 25-to-54-year-olds (main advertiser target audience for news programming).

NBC5 had the most total viewers at 6 a.m. while Fox4 took the cake with 25-to-54-year-olds.

The Peacock stayed solid in the early evenings with across-the-board wins at 5 and 6 p.m.

Also of note: CBS11 lately has shown signs of reverting back to the 25-to-54 demographic doldrums after sending co-anchor Jason Allen back to the reporting staff and dumping traffic anchor Tammy Dombeck. The replacements, both hired from out of state, are Russ McCaskey as co-anchor and Chelsey Davis doing the traffic. They started this month.

CBS11 beat Gannett8 among 25-to-54-year-olds in the May “sweeps,” marking the first time the station has ever finished better than fourth in the 6 a.m. segment. But Thursday’s ratings showed CBS11 with just 5,927 viewers in the 25-to-54 age range.

Fox4 topped the 25-to-54 field with 53,341 viewers, followed by NBC5 (41,488) and Gannett8 (20,744).

So did CBS11 ruin a good thing? Time will tell. But the station now has run fourth with 25-to-54-year-olds for five consecutive weekdays.

By ED BARK@unclebarkycom on TwitterA pair of unscripted Fox series and Fox4’s local 9 p.m. news swept Wednesday’s prime-time ratings among advertiser-prized 18-to-49-year-olds and won all but the 8 p.m. hour in total D-FW viewers.

The 7 to 9 p.m. winners with 18-to-49-year-olds were Masterchef and Bullseye before the news took over. Masterchef had the biggest haul with 91,460 viewers in this key demographic.

Masterchef also drew the night’s most total viewers (223,168), with Fox4’s local news a close second (209,220). CBS topped the 8 p.m. hour with a Criminal Minds rerun (139,480).

Here are Wednesday’s four-way local news derby results.

Fox4 swept the 6 a.m. and 10 p.m. competitions in both total viewers and 25-to-54-year-olds (main advertiser target audience for news programming).

NBC5 dominated at 5 p.m., with an unusually big grab of 271,986 total viewers that buried its three opponents.

The 6 p.m. golds went to the Peacock in total viewers and Fox4 with 25-to-54-year-olds.

By ED BARK@unclebarkycom on TwitterThe Golden State Warriors closed out the game, undermanned Cleveland Cavaliers Tuesday night, setting a D-FW ratings high in doing so.

Running until 10:58 p.m., Game 6 on ABC was the first to surpass the half-million viewers mark, averaging 523,050. The game also reached a high among advertiser-prized 18-to-49-year-olds, with 277,534. Each of the six Warriors-Cavs face-offs drew more than half their audiences from this key demographic.

Over on Fox Sports Southwest, the Texas Rangers’ walk off win over the Dodgers had 146,454 total viewers and 44,153 in the 18-to-49 measurement.

NBC’s 7 to 9 p.m. edition of America’s Got Talent ranked second opposite the Finals in total viewers with 2330,142. Among 18-to-49-year-olds, AGT and Fox’s U.S.-Nigeria women’s World Cup soccer match tied for the runner-up spot with 78,845 viewers each. But soccer had the highest peak crowd, with 107,229 viewers in the 18-to-49 range during the 8:15 to 8:30 p.m. segment.

Here are Tuesday’s local news derby results.

NBC5 drew the most total viewers at 10 p.m. while Fox4 ran first with 25-to-54-year-olds (main advertiser target audience for news programming). Gannett8’s late nighter was pushed past 11 p.m. by the NBA Finals.

Fox4 ran the table at 6 a.m. and NBC5 did likewise at both 5 and 6 p.m.

By ED BARK@unclebarkycom on TwitterCBS11 investigative reporter Mireya Villarreal is joining the CBS network as a national correspondent after a relatively short stay at the D-FW station.

She’ll be based in Los Angeles and begin on July 20th, the network announced Tuesday.

Villarreal, then known as Villarreal-Gideon, started at CBS11 on Jan. 2, 2013 after spending five years at San Antonio’s WOAI-TV. The Texas- Pan American grad also has worked at TV stations in Laredo and in the Rio Grande Valley.

By ED BARK@unclebarkycom on TwitterNeither of these sports attractions can draw anywhere near the audience for this month’s NBA Finals.

Still, we had an intriguing matchup Monday night, with the Chicago Blackhawks winning the Stanley Cup in Game 6 on NBC while the Texas Rangers beat the marquee first-place Los Angeles Dodgers in their inter-league opener at Globe Life Park.

Rangers-Dodgers on Fox Sports Southwest drew the most total D-FW viewers, averaging 139,480 to hockey’s 104,610. But the Cup one-upped baseball among advertiser-prized 18-to-49-year-olds, winning by a score of 50,461 viewers to 37,846.

Prime-time’s top draw in both ratings measurements was Fox4’s 9 p.m. local newscast, with 202,246 total viewers and 59,922 in the 18-to-49 age range.

Here are the four-way local news derby results.

Gannett8 ran first at 10 p.m. in both total viewers and 25-to-54-year-olds (main advertiser target audience for news programming).

NBC5 rose up to beat usual front-runner Fox4 in total viewers at 6 a.m., but Fox4 again had the edge with 25-to-54-year-olds.

The Peacock swept the 5 p.m. competitions. At 6 p.m., the golds went to CBS11 in total viewers and Fox4 in the 25-to-54 demographic.

By ED BARK@unclebarkycom on TwitterThe Golden State Warriors again whipped the Cleveland Cavaliers by double digits Sunday night while taking a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven NBA Finals.

Running until 9:49 p.m., the 104-91 Warriors win on ABC crushed all competing prime-time attractions but fell short of Game 4’s high points. Game 5 averaged 474,232 D-FW viewers, down from Thursday night’s 488,180. Among advertiser-prized 18-to-49-year-olds, Game 5 had 236,535 compared to Game 4’s 268,073. All five games have drawn more than half their audiences from this key demographic.

The D-FW Nielsens for HBO’s death-drenched Season 5 finale of Game of Thrones were not immediately available. But the series’ pulling power among younger males likely put at least a bit of a crimp in the 8 to 9 p.m. portion of the game, which included halftime.

On Sunday afternoon, TCU routed LSU 10-3 in both teams’ College World Series debuts while the Texas Rangers lost 4-3 to Minnesota. The CWS start time was delayed a little more than a half-hour by rain. The game ended up averaging 69,740 total viewers on ESPN while the Rangers drew 104,610 on Fox Sports Southwest.

Saturday afternoon’s Rangers win averaged 83,688 total viewers on FSS. And the Friday night game on FSS, also won by Texas, pulled in 90,662 total viewers. Those are ratings slumps compared to the averages for recent games. But afternoon starts generally tend to deflate viewer totals. And the Twins are not a marquee attraction.

Friday’s highest prime-time scorers were ABC’s What Would You Do? in total viewers (167,376) and Fox’s USA-Sweden World Cup soccer match among 18-to-49-year-olds (63,076).

Here are Friday’s local news derby results.

Gannett8 won comfortably in total viewers at 10 p.m. while Fox4 narrowly prevailed among 25-to-54-year-olds (main advertiser target audience for news programming).

Fox4 rolled out another pair of twin wins at 6 a.m. and NBC5 ran the table at 6 p.m. The Peacock also had the most total viewers at 5 p.m., but shared the 25-to-54 gold with Fox4.

ALSO OF NOTE: Saturday morning’s local news numbers were inflated by live, continuous coverage of the aftermath of an attack on the Dallas downtown police department offices by a lone gunman who ended up dead. The ratings began adding up between 7 and 9 a.m., when the potential viewing pool climbed upward and out of bed.

Here’s how the four major TV news providers fared in total viewers during those two hours.

NBC5 -- 119,255Fox4 -- 108,097Gannett8 -- 86,478CBS11 -- 41,844

Fox4 cut away to infomercials at 9 a.m. and saw its audience crater to 52,305 viewers from 9 to 9:30 a.m. and 14,645 viewers from 9:30 to 10 a.m.

That left NBC5 and Gannett8 with continuous news coverage in that hour before both stations went to regularly scheduled programming at 10 a.m. NBC5 won that battle, drawing 132,506 viewers to Gannett8’s 114,374. The assailant was still at large during that hour.

From this perspective, Gannett8 had the best overall coverage, with main anchor John McCaa making an exceedingly rare Saturday morning appearance to lead the way. In contrast, Fox4 in particular fumbled badly by yielding to a pair of pre-paid half-hour infomercials. The station’s audience reacted accordingly by increasingly tuning out in each 15-minute segment.

Golden State’s Game 4 thrashing of Cleveland, by a 103-82 score on ABC, set highs in both total viewers (488,180) and advertiser-coveted 18-to-49-year-olds (268,073). The previous peaks were 446,336 total viewers for Game 2 and 252,304 in the 18-to-49 age range for Game 3. The Cavaliers closed to within 3 points in the third quarter before the Warriors pulled away again. It was garbage time in the closing minutes of a game that ended at 10:48 p.m.

All four games have drawn more than half of their viewership from the key 18-to-49-year-olds demographic.

Opposite the Finals, Thursday’s prime-time runner-up was CBS’ 8:30 p.m. Mike & Molly rerun, which had 202,246 total viewers and 56,768 in the 18-to-49 sweet spot.

NBC’s second episode of Hannibal’s new season again ended up deader than his mutilated victims. It drew a teeny 34,870 total viewers, with just 6,308 of them 18-to-49-year-olds. Both were low marks among all prime-time programming on the Big 4 broadcast networks.

At 8 p.m. Thursday, Fox’s Wayward Pines again battled NBC’s Aquarius. They tied in total viewers with 83,688 apiece but Pines easily drew more 18-to-49-year-olds (40,999 to 15,769 for Aquarius).

Wednesday’s prime-time programming was paced by CBS’ Criminal Minds repeat in total viewers (167,376) and Fox’s Masterchef among 18-to-49-year-olds (63,076).

Here are the local news derby results.

Wednesday -- NBC5 had the most total viewers at 10 p.m. while Fox4 won among 25-to-54-year-olds (main advertiser target audience for news programming).

Fox4 swept both the 6 a.m. and 5 p.m. competitions. The 6 p.m. firsts went to Gannett8 and CBS11 in total viewers and Gannett8 in the 25-to-54 measurement.

Thursday -- CBS11 ran first in total viewers in a downsized 10 p.m. competition, but Fox4 took the 25-to-54 gold.

Fox4 and NBC5 tied for the most total viewers at 6 a.m. while Fox4 was alone atop the 25-to-54 heap.

The Peacock ran the table at 5 p.m. and also won among 25-to-54-year-olds at 6 p.m. CBS11 had the most total viewers at 6 p.m.

Instead take her at her word. As unclebarky.com first reported earlier Wednesday, she in fact is retiring on June 29th after joining the station on March 11, 1991.

“You get to do that at age 55 at Fox,” Oliver says in a telephone interview while on vacation. “You get a very generous pension, retirement and medical package . . . The hardest thing for me has been juggling motherhood with a full-time job.”

Few know, because she’s chosen not to mention it in her Fox4 bio, that Oliver (who’s 55-and-a-half) is the married mother of six children. Her three boys and three girls now range in age from 16 to 28 years old. Three are out of college, one is in college, one is heading to college this fall and her youngest daughter, 16, remains at home.

“Twice I had really serious threats against my kids,” Oliver says. “I won’t elaborate but that’s when I got really worried . . . There have been a lot of bad apples along the way, a lot of kind of scary people” during her 24-year career as Fox4’s signature gumshoe. She’s therefore been extra protective of her children, who were taught to be “very fearful” of strangers and the possible perils associated with her TV visibility and the unsavory people she encountered, Oliver says.

Oliver, who’s husband, Gerald, is an attorney, notes they’ve been “very active in real estate” for the last decade. So it’s a “very logical jump for me right now” to get a full-time realtor license, which she expects to have by August.

“I will not slow down,” she says. “I go 100 miles an hour, 24/7.”

When her youngest daughter asked her if she’d miss television sleuthing, Oliver says she replied, “You know what I get to do? I get to be the boss of me.”

She also plans to continue working with the Plano-based Orphan Outreach organization after recently making a mission trip to Guatemala. “I have a feeling I’ll have my fingers in a lot of things, and that’s very exciting to me.”

Oliver says she filed “intent to retire” papers with Fox4 a year ago and agreed to finish out her current contract with the station before leaving. She subsequently declined a new two-year contract offer.

Producer Donna Ressl, who worked with Oliver in Fox4’s investigative unit for the past 14 years, retired from that job last week. Ressl agreed to “hang on” until Oliver reached retirement age “so that we could go out at the same time.”

When she joined Fox4 in 1991, “people used to criticize me for doing only three stories a year” during the ratings “sweeps” months of November, February and May. ”And it’s true that that’s all I did,” Oliver says.

Her reports generally would be on a single topic and run for five consecutive nights. But week-long sweeps series since have been phased out by local TV stations. In the past year’s time, Oliver says she’s done 33 stories. “We had a lot more time back in the olden days, a lot more time to work on things.”

Fox4 aired a half-hour special on her career last Friday. Oliver has a sharp-edged, semi-raspy voice and -- in her earlier days -- had a trademark verbally brawling way of tracking down and confronting alleged wrongdoers. While going over some of those earlier tapes for the special, Oliver says she came away thinking, “Wow, I was just downright mean. I guess I’ve really mellowed over the years. I guess it just comes with getting older.”

She’s won 20 local Emmys among other awards for her investigative work. Oliver says her most gratifying effort was a 2013 investigation of guard rail safety that resulted in a Texas jury determining that a Dallas-based company had defrauded the federal government.

“The thing I will miss the most is having the ability to help people,” she says. “I have people every single day who call up and say ‘Thank you.’ It’s a very powerful thing.”

Fox4 management must now decide whether to hire another full-time investigative team or try a different tack. Oliver says she has “no idea” what their plans are. “I think there are two rules of thumb. There are some managers who think every reporter in the news room should be an investigative reporter at times. And others who think there should be a self-standing unit.”

It’s not her problem. And after 24 years at Fox4 and 33 years in the TV news business, Oliver says she’s eager to throw herself into other pursuits.

“I can honestly say I loved every minute of it,” she says. “And I’m very grateful to Fox. It’s been an honor and a privilege.”

By ED BARK@unclebarkycom on TwitterHard-charging Becky Oliver, longtime featured gumshoe at Dallas-based Fox4, is retiring from the station late this month.

Oliver could not immediately be reached for comment, but a Fox4 spokesperson confirmed to unclebarky.com that her last day will be June 29th. She joined Fox4 on March 11, 1991, and her station bio says Oliver has won a total of 20 local Emmy Awards during that time as well as a national Edward R. Murrow Award for investigative reporting.

The Northwestern University graduate previously worked at TV stations in Peoria, Illinois and Phoenix before arriving at Fox4. She specializes in consumer fraud, with her stories invariably getting prominent play during ratings “sweeps” months.

“I always say I have the best job in the world,” Oliver says in her Fox4 bio. “It is challenging, constantly changes and the rewards are tremendous. There is nothing better than having a positive impact on your community, helping someone or exposing government corruption.”

Oliver’s investigative unit producer, Donna Ressl, retired last week after 19 years at the station.

It’s an open question at this point as to whether Fox4 plans to replenish the unit.

Oliver’s impending departure leaves Gannett8’s veteran duo of Byron Harris and Brett Shipp as the deans of investigative reporting in the country’s fifth-largest television market.

ALSO OF NOTE -- Former CBS11 early morning co-anchor Adrienne Bankert has landed a reporting job at KABC-TV in Los Angeles. She starts this week.

Bankert left CBS11 on New Year’s Eve of last year after the station announced that veteran P.M. anchor Karen Borta would be replacing her in the mornings. She first joined CBS11 in June 2012.

By ED BARK@unclebarkycom on TwitterGame 3 of the NBA Finals, with the Cleveland Cavaliers beating the Golden State Warriors in another thriller, dominated Tuesday’s prime-time Nielsens while also dropping a bit in total viewers from Sunday’s high point.

Stretching to 10:49 p.m. on ABC, Cavs-Warriors averaged 432,388 D-FW viewers and 252,304 in the advertiser-prized 18-to-49-year-old demographic. Sunday’s Game 2, played at an earlier start time on what typically is the heaviest viewing night of the week, had 446,336 total viewers. But Tuesday night’s 96-91 Cavs win outdrew Game 2 in the 18-to-49 realm, by a score of 252,304 to 236,535 viewers. So ABC is still smiling very broadly.

NBC’s 7 to 9 p.m. edition of America’s Got Talent was the prime-time runner-up in both ratings measurements with 265,012 total viewers and 116,691 in the 18-to-49 age range. ABC’s 7 p.m. Jimmy Kimmel Live! Finals special continued to shoot mostly air balls, drawing just 62,766 total viewers to run fourth in its time slot. It did, however, edge the first half of CBS’ NCIS rerun among 18-to-49-year-olds.

On Fox Sports Southwest, the surging Texas Rangers’ late night win at Oakland, which ended at 12:07 a.m., averaged 104,610 total viewers.

Here are Tuesday’s local news derby results.

NBC5 won a downsized three-way race at 10 p.m. in total viewers and tied Fox4 for the lead with 25-to-54-year-olds (main advertiser target audience for news programming).

Fox4 ran the table at 6 a.m. and NBC5 did likewise at 5 p.m. The 6 p.m. golds went to Gannett8 in total viewers and Fox4 with 25-to-54-year-olds.

By ED BARK@unclebarkycom on TwitterIt took a while. And in the end, only the strong survived TCU’s trip to the College World Series via a 16-inning, 5-4 win over Texas A&M that stretched all the way to 1:02 a.m. on ESPN.

The game averaged 83,688 D-FW viewers, with a peak crowd of 160,402 between 10:45 and 11 p.m. (Nielsen measures in 15-minute increments.) By the time TCU scored the winning run, on a throwing error by A&M’s 3rd baseman, a total of 90,662 viewers remained in tune -- or perhaps sound asleep on their couches with the TV still on.

A&M and TCU batters combined to strike out a total of 39 times (A&M had 25 of them) and walk 19 times (TCU had 11 of them). Not the most elegant game ever played, but very tense for those who had strong rooting interests in one of the teams.

Meanwhile, Monday’s prime-time parade was led by Fox4’s 9 p.m. local news in total viewers (209,220) and NBC’s 7 to 9 p.m. edition of American Ninja Warrior among advertiser-craved 18-to-49-year-olds (100,922).

ABC’s 9 p.m. episode of the new The Whispers continued to struggle by finishing fourth in its time slot with total viewers and moving up a notch to third (a wisp ahead of CBS’ NCIS: Los Angeles repeat) in the 18-to-49 demographic.

Here are Monday’s four-way local news derby results.

Gannett8 and CBS11 shared the 10 p.m. lead in total viewers but Fox4 easily had the most 25-to-54-year-olds (main advertiser target audience for news programming).

The remaining competitions were sweeps. Fox4 had twin wins at both 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. while NBC5 controlled the 5 p.m. turf.

By ED BARK@unclebarkycom on TwitterGame 2 of the NBA Finals, another overtime thriller, roared in Sunday’s prime-time ratings while the history-making Belmont Stakes also made a big ratings impression early Saturday evening.

Cleveland’s last-second upset win over Golden State, which ran for more than three hours and stretched to 10:18 p.m. on ABC, averaged 446,336 D-FW viewers and increased its audience in every full 15-minute segment measured by Nielsen Media Research. Yes, even the halftime audience kept the upswing going, with an eventual peak crowd of 676,478 viewers between 10 and 10:15 p.m.

The overall audience was up from the 404,492 for Game 1. Even better for the NBA and ABC, the 95-93 Cavaliers win Sunday night again drew more than half its numbers -- 236,535 -- from the key 18-to-49-year-old demographic. This bears repeating. No pro sports championship can equal the NBA Finals in terms of its pound-for-pound pulling power with 18-to-49-year-olds. The Super Bowl obviously draws many more, but generally less than half the overall total. This year’s down-to-the-wire Super Bowl, for instance, averaged 2,740,782 total viewers in D-FW, with under 50 percent -- 1,258,366 -- within the 18-to-49 motherlode.

Opposite Game 2 of the Finals, CBS’ three-hour Tony Awards telecast had 153,428 total viewers and 37,846 in the 18-to-49 demographic. The Tonys ran second to the NBA from 7 to 9 p.m. but were outdrawn in the final hour in both ratings measurements by Fox4’s 9 p.m. local newscast.

Let’s move to Saturday, where American Pharoah’s runaway win at the Belmont made him the first Triple Crown winner in 37 years. Following the usual marathon buildup on NBC, the race was actually run between 5:52 and 5:54 p.m. In the 5:45 to 6 p.m. increment, the closest we can get to the precise viewing audience, the Belmont pulled in a very impressive 516,076 viewers. Not as impressive: it had 160,844 viewers in the 18-to-49 realm.

Saturday afternoon’s Rangers win required something of an archaeological dig to find it on Fox Sports 1 cable. The game managed 76,714 total viewers. NBC’s prime-time Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Finals averaged 139,480 total viewers and 47,307 in the 18-to-49 age range. But the audience was at its highest in both measurements in the 15-minute increment immediately following the Belmont. The ratings then started to erode.

On to Friday, where the top prime-time scorer was ABC’s 20/20 in both total viewers (188,298) and 18-to-49-year-olds (72,537). But the day’s overall most-watched TV attraction was CBS11’s 6:30 p.m. edition of Wheel of Fortune, with 230,142 total viewers. The Rangers-Royals game drew 153,428 total viewers on FSS.

Here are Friday’s four-way local news derby results.

Gannett8 dominated the 10 p.m. competitions in both total viewers and 25-to-54-year-olds (main advertiser target audience for news programming).

Fox4 and NBC5 tied for the most total viewers at 6 a.m. But for the first time in recent memory -- and very likely the first time ever -- CBS11 won among 25-to-54-year-olds. In fact, it wasn’t that close. CBS11 had 35,561 viewers in this realm while the usual frontrunner -- Fox4 -- ran second with 26,671. Gannett8, lately the new loss leader in this key news demographic, bottomed out with a fourth-place 20,744 viewers of the 25-to-54 persuasion.

NBC5 ran the table at 5 p.m. and added a 6 p.m. win with 25-to-54-year-olds. CBS11 had the most total viewers at 6 p.m.

By ED BARK@unclebarkycom on TwitterABC’s Game 1 of the NBA Finals whipped through prime-time Thursday, bouncing all competing programming to the curb.

Stretching until 10:52 p.m., the Warriors’ 108-100 overtime win over the Cavaliers averaged 404,492 D-FW viewers. More than half of them -- 214,458 -- were within the advertiser-coveted 18-to-49-year-old age range. The NBA Finals continue to reign as the best bang-for-the-buck among pro sports championships in terms of percentages of viewers in this key demographic.

NBC’s 9 p.m. season premiere of Hannibal got carved up, drawing a sub-measly 27,896 total viewers and 9,461 in the 18-to-49 realm.

Over on Fox Sports Southwest, the Texas Rangers went mostly into the teeth of the Finals before finally winning 2-1 in the 11th inning against the White Sox. The game ran until 11:03 p.m. and averaged a respectable 174,350 total viewers.

Rangers-White Sox fared the best against the Finals in prime-time, with the 9 to 10 p.m. portion of the game drawing 195,272 total viewers. Fox4’s 9 p.m. local newscast ranked as the prime-time runnerup among 18-to-49-year-olds, with 56,768.

On Wednesday night, Fox’s Masterchef won the 7 p.m. hour in total viewers with 209,220 before CBS’ 8 p.m. repeat of Criminal Minds took over with 202,246. At 9 p.m., Fox4’s local news nipped CBS’ CSI: Cyber rerun by a score of 195,272 total viewers to 188,298. In the 18-to-49 age range, Fox/Fox4 ran the prime-time table with Masterchef, the new Bullseye and local news.

NBC’s Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Finals between the Chicago Black Hawks and Tampa Bay Lightning languished with 62,766 total viewers and 22,077 in the 18-to-49 demographic. On FSS, the Rangers’ lopsided 9-2 loss to Chicago had respective totals of 153,428 and 56,768 viewers.

Here are the four-way local news derby results.

Wednesday -- CBS11 had the most total viewers at 10 p.m., but Gannett8 won among 25-to-54-year-olds (main advertiser target audience for news programming).

Fox4 as usual swept the 6 a.m. competitions, added twin wins at 5 p.m. and had the most 25-to-54-year-olds at 6 p.m. Gannett8 ran first in total viewers at 6 p.m.

Thursday -- Fox4 again collected most of the spoils, topping the 25-to-54-Nielsens at 6 a.m. and 5, 6 and 10 p.m. while also drawing the most total viewers at 6 a.m. and 5 p.m. CBS11 took the other two golds by winning in total viewers at 6 and 10 p.m. (The 10 p.m. races were downsized, with ABC’s NBA Finals punching Gannett8’s late nighter back to 11 p.m.)

By ED BARK@unclebarkycom on TwitterNBC’s America’s Got Talent dipped from last week’s season premiere numbers but still had enough juice to top all prime-time programming Tuesday.

The latest two-hour edition drew 258,038 D-FW viewers in the 7 to 9 p.m. slot, down from 306,856 on the previous Tuesday. Talent also won among advertiser-prized 18-to-49-year-olds, pulling in 85,153 compared to 100,922 last week.

The streaking Texas Rangers, who slaughtered the White Sox 15-2 on Fox Sports Southwest, averaged 181,324 total viewers and 63,076 in the 18-to-49 demographic. The game marked slugging Joey Gallo’s Major League debut, and he responded with a homer, double, single and four RBIs.

Ending at 9:44 p.m. the game outdrew all competing programming in total viewers from 9 to 9:45 p.m. (Nielsen measures in 15-minute increments.) The Rangers also edged Fox4’s 9 p.m. local newscast among 18-to-49-year-olds.

Here are Tuesday’s local news derby results.

Fox4 beat Gannett8 by a paper-thin margin in total viewers at 10 p.m. while winning comparatively comfortably among 25-to-54-year-olds (main advertiser target audience for news programming).

Fox4 as usual swept the 6 a.m. competitions and NBC5 remained strong at 5 p.m. with twin wins.

The Peacock also prevailed at 6 p.m. in total viewers in a tight three-way race with Gannett8 and CBS11. NBC5 won more decisively in the 25-to-54 realm.

That’s true more often than not. But any TV station in its right mind will be sure to let viewers know about any pre-existing ties to the latest new homeland.

CBS11 has gone unusually all-in with McCaskey, who’s teaming with incumbent anchor Karen Borta on the weekday 4:30 to 7 a.m. shift. A 30-second spot touting his arrival drops the names of five North Texas cities plus Texas Christian University, the Fort Worth school from which McCaskey graduated before riding out of town and eventually spending 15 years at Tulsa’s KJRH-TV. But hey, he’s really one of us.

Let’s see now, McCaskey was born in Dallas at Baylor Hospital, graduated from Plano Senior High, went to TCU and has kin in McKinney, Coppell and Rockwall. So if he screws up, “there’s a McCaskey out there who’s gonna tell me about it,” he says at the end.

Or maybe a TV critic will, too. Yeah, I’m a Wisconsin Badger by birth but have been in Dallas since late 1979. I’ve also been to Plano, Fort Worth, McKinney, Coppell, Rockwall and even Waxahachie. And my kindly late aunt Lydie, all six feet, four inches of her, heralded from Dime Box, TX before migrating north and marrying one of my dad’s brothers.

That’s it for now. But c’mon, y’all, adopt me as a surrogate son of the Southwest while watching McCaskey in a promo in which he somehow forgets to mention Garland, home of unclebarky.com world headquarters.

By ED BARK@unclebarkycom on TwitterFox’s 12th season premiere of So You Think You Can Dance, with new judge Paula Abdul and including auditions from Dallas, ended up a wallflower in the D-FW Nielsen ratings.

ABC’s premiere of the paranormal drama The Whispers fared no better in the 9 p.m. slot on a night without Texas Rangers baseball or the NBA or Stanley Cup Finals.

Dance drew 111,584 viewers from 7 to 9 p.m. to run fourth among the Big Four broadcast networks. In the advertiser-prized 18-to-49-year-old demographic, it outdrew only CBS’ 8 p.m. repeat of Scorpion.

Whispers had 125,532 total viewers and 37,846 in the 18-to-49 range. it beat only CBS’ NCIS: Los Angeles rerun in the 18-to-49 realm while placing fourth in the overall Nielsens.

CBS won from 7 to 8 p.m. in total viewers with reprises of 2 Broke Girls and Mike & Molly before NBC’s American Ninja Warrior took the 8 p.m. hour and Fox4’s local newscast ran first at 9 p.m.

Ninja Warrior won its entire two hours with 18-to-49-year-olds before the Peacock’s The Island with Bear Gryls ran first at 9 p.m. in that measurement.

Here are Monday’s local news derby results.

Gannett8 comfortably won in total viewers at 10 p.m. and nipped Fox4 among 25-to-54-year-olds (main advertiser target audience for news programming).

Fox4 notched another pair of 6 a.m. wins while CBS11’s debut of co-anchor Russ McCaskey tied Gannett8 for third place in total viewers and had the bronze to itself with 25-to-54-year-olds.

CBS11 had the most total viewers at 6 p.m., with Fox4 the 25-to-54 champ. The 5 p.m. golds went to NBC5 in total viewers and CBS11 in the 25-to-54 realm.

Ray Villeda, who joined the station in October 2011, is moving on up to WNBC-TV in New York City. He grew up in the Big Apple.

“It’s official!” Villeda tweeted. “Couldn’t be more grateful for the amazing people and incredible stories I’ve been able to tell.”

News director Susan Tully tweeted her approval: “Good things happen to great team members.” she said.

NBC5 also has a new reporter, Meredith Yeomans, who started on May 18th after working at Sherman/Denison’s KTEN-TV since December 2012. The University of South Florida graduate also has been a news room staffer at TV stations in Phoenix, Houston and Tampa, FL.

Name dropping -- A vigilant reader notes that Sunday’s Season 2 premiere of AMC’s Halt and Catch Fire, a 1980s drama set in the “Silicon Prairie” of Texas, included a reference to a news reporter named Chip Rowlett.

That’s a reference to the late Chip Moody and the still ticking Tracy Rowlett, both of whom were prominent Dallas news anchors during that period.

By ED BARK@unclebarkycom on TwitterIt had looked like a long, grim season for stations carrying Texas Rangers games, with Fox Sports Southwest doing almost all of the lifting.

But the on-the-rise North Texas 9 are starting to rebuild their TV audience, with Sunday’s electrifying walk-off win another upside. Josh Hamilton’s two-out, two-run double gave the Rangers a winning record for the first time this season. Competing opposite the final round of the Byron Nelson golf tourney on CBS, the game averaged 146,454 D-FW viewers on FSS. Golf, with Dallas native Jordan Spieth out of contention, ran far back with an average of 83,688 viewers.

The Friday night Rangers game, on FSS, had 153,428 viewers. That also was enough to beat all other prime-time programming. Fox4’s 9 p.m. local newscast drew 160,402 viewers, but that one-hour portion of the Rangers-Red Sox face-off built to 181,324 viewers.

On Thursday night, Rangers-Red Sox averaged 160,402 viewers. That’s another solid number, but in this case the game fell short of a number of prime-time programs. The night’s league leader, Fox4’s 9 p.m. news, had 278,960 viewers.

Also on Thursday, the 8 to 10 p.m. premiere of NBC’s Aquarius series drew 153,428 viewers, beating Fox’s continuing Wayward Pines series (111,584 viewers) in the 8 to 9 p.m. slot. Aquarius also outdrew Pines among advertiser-prized 18-to-49-year-olds. But its audience in that key demographic plummeted in the 9 to 10 p.m. hour.

Here are the local news derby results.

Thursday -- Gannett8 won at 10 p.m. in total viewers while Fox4 had the most 25-to-54-year-olds (main advertiser target audience for news programming).

Fox4 again swept the 6 a.m. competitions and NBC5 notched twin wins at 5 p.m. The 6 p.m. firsts went to NBC5 in total viewers and Fox4 in the 25-to-54 demographic.

Friday -- Gannett8 ran the table at 10 p.m. and Fox4 did likewise at 6 a.m.

NBC5 had another doubleheader win at 5 p.m. CBS11 broke through with the most total viewers at 6 p.m., but Fox4 had the most 25-to-54-year-olds.

By ED BARK@unclebarkycom on TwitterPolished, jovial and closer in age to his veteran co-anchor, Russ McCaskey joined Karen Borta Monday on CBS11’s no longer basement-dwelling early morning newscast.

McCaskey, who spent the last 15 years as a P.M. co-anchor at NBC affiliate KJRH-TV in Tulsa, OK, is replicating Borta’s move earlier this year from longstanding nighttime duty to unforgiving yawn patrol service. It’s not for everyone. But Borta and company made their marks in the May “sweeps” ratings when CBS11 climbed out of last place in the early mornings for the first time in the station’s history. Gannett8 took the fall, dropping behind CBS11 in the key 25-to-54-year-old audience demographic (main advertiser target audience for news programming).

Wearing a dark suit, white shirt and blue/white checked tie, McCaskey looked crisp and very wide awake on his maiden two-and-a-half-hour shift. A couple of tiny, inconsequential word stumbles stopped him short of pitching a perfect game. But he threw strikes on some potential tongue twisters, including “padlock-proof Plexiglass.”

McCaskey, who replaces interim co-anchor Jason Allen, repeatedly was called upon to introduce himself to viewers. His Texas bonafides are these: born in Dallas, attended Plano Senior High School and Texas Christian University before migrating to KXII-TV in Sherman, TX for his first TV job. He’s married with a son in high school and a daughter getting ready to go off to Oklahoma State University. And his seemingly immovable hair has a bare wisp of grey in the frontal region. You might have to squint to see it, though.

“Can I say I brought the sunshine?” McCaskey asked at the end of his first early morning shift. He can and he did. CBS11 would rather he bring further A.M. momentum to a station that will add another new player, traffic reporter Chelsey Davis, on June 8th.